Neo and Linklater

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Keanu joins sci-fi flick from School of Rock helmer.

By Brian Linder

According to today's Variety, Keanu Reeves is set to star in the big-screen adaptation of Philip K. Dick's sci-fi novel A Scanner Darkly, which is going into production soon at Warner Bros. new indie unit, Warner Independant Pictures.

The trade reports that helmer Richard Linklater (School of Rock, Dazed and Confused), who wrote the most recent draft of the Scanner screenplay, is currently working out a deal to direct. He's expected to utilize the same filmmaking technique that he used in Waking Life &#Array; shooting the movie live-action and then animating over it.

A Scanner Darkly is the story of Bob Arctor, a dealer of a lethally addictive drug called Substance D, and Fred a police agent assigned to tail and eventually bust him. To do so, he has taken on the identity of a drug dealer named Bob Arctor. And since Substance D &#Array; which Arctor takes in massive doses &#Array; gradually splits the user's brain into two distinct, combative entities, Fred doesn't realize that he is actually narcing on himself. Reeves the lead character.

George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh's Section 8 is producing the film which is expected to start production in May.